Adaptive shooting

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Hey All,

Just joined the forum and hoping I can get some help with a question---

I seriously injured my hands in Iraq and as a result I have lost strength and mobility. My left hand is worse than my right. I am still active duty Army and the other day I was trying to pull the slide back on a weapon and I just couldn't get it. It is too narrow and my hand does not have the grip strength for me to get a good grip on it. Actual firing will not be an issue, but currently I am unable to load a round into the chamber. I really want to be able to fire a pistol again and am hoping some of you may have some thoughts or experience on how I can adapt something to assist me in using my pistol or know of some alternate technique that I am not thinking of.

This may be an overly obvious comment but if you cock the hammer prior to trying to pull the slide, the slide should come back much more easily. Have you tried this? Don't know if you lack the strength to cock the hammer.

Thanks. Tried it. Right hand and thumb are pretty good and I am able to cock the hammer back. I think my biggest problem is the slide is too narrow for my left hand. The tighter I bring the fingers of my left hand the less strength I have it seems. I think another issue is the weapon I was trying it on was new. A used one may be easy enough, but I haven't been able to try it on another pistol yet.

Appreciate the advice. I am going to try and talk to some therapists at Walter Reed Army Med Center tomorrow and see if they have any thought or ideas.

Try reading the appropriate part of the following website. Kathy presents a method of slide-racking that works for low-upper-body- and low-arm-strength women that may help you.
Click on : http://www.corneredcat.com/

If it's your personal weapon for range and home defense, a good gunsmith could build an attachment on your slide, like a pull handle. They use them on "Open Class" guns with optics on top of the slide. It's a handle that extends from the side, mounted in the rear sight dovetail... You'd still need the rear sight, but just a seed for thought...